Central Asia news

Islamic movement leader Yuldashev's right-hand men arrested in the northern part of Afghanistan

Afghani National Security Directorate reported arrests of Kari Abdul Kadir and Kari Hekmatulla in the northern part of the country. Right-hand men of Tahir Yuldashev, leader of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, Kadir and Hekmatulla are from the province of Farjab. Both were trained in Kvetta, Pakistan. Law enforcement agencies suspect that the arrestees planned some major terrorist acts in Afghanistan.

The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan is viewed as one of the largest Islamic organizations operating in post-Soviet Central Asia. The US Department of State regards it as one of the most dangerous terrorist organizations in the world. The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan was established in 1996 by activists of a number of Uzbek Islamic organizations President Islam Karimov had outlawed. The structure was set up to establish an Islamic state on the territory of the Ferghana Valley. In 1999, its gangs were driven out of the region into Afghanistan where they joined Taliban. When the United States launched its operation in Afghanistan, gunmen of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (most of them) escaped into Waziristan, the Pakistani province on the border with Afghanistan. Media outlets reported Yuldashev's arrest more than once but all these reports inevitably proved erroneous.